


Luxury

by thebestworstthing



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Black Paladin Keith (Voltron), Emetophobia, Fever, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Poor Keith, Shiro (Voltron) is Missing, Sick Keith (Voltron), Sickfic, Vomiting, most characters only have minor roles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 10:07:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11552955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebestworstthing/pseuds/thebestworstthing
Summary: When Keith wakes up to an incessant pounding reverberating through his skull, he chalks it up to the stress of becoming the new black paladin, drags himself out of bed to take some painkillers and promptly collapses back down into the sheets.(Or: Keith makes himself sick and doesn't quite realise his limits until it's too late)





	Luxury

**Author's Note:**

> this is short thing i spat out in two hours for a tublr prompt.... just take it... bls...
> 
> also: keith's character is so hard to write so like ,, lemme know if i did a good job or if there's stuff i could work on?? thank u

When Keith wakes up to an incessant pounding reverberating through his skull, he chalks it up to the stress of becoming the new black paladin, drags himself out of bed to take some painkillers and promptly collapses back down into the sheets. It’s still early, the castles automatic lighting system is still dark indicating that it’s probably around five am which leaves him with another two hours before the alarm for morning training will go off.

 

Hopefully he’ll feel better when he wakes up again.

 

**

 

Keith did not feel better when he woke up to the alarm ringing through his room, if anything, he felt worse. The headache seems more intense but it also seems to have spread throughout his body, causing his limbs to ache dully. When he shifts to sit up, his stomach lurches uncomfortably and he has to spend a good few minutes breathing deeply to avoid puking all over his bed.

 

He knows he needs to be down there in around 60 ticks otherwise Allura will be furious, but the world is spinning ever so slightly and his whole body feels slightly disjointed and off-kilter as he struggles to properly fix his armour plates in place. Keith makes it down in roughly 200 ticks and calls it a job well done, despite the stern look Allura gives him.

 

Truthfully, Keith knows he should tell them how he feels. Maybe he’s caught some strange space-virus, he could be dying right now for all he knows. But honestly? It just feels like a minor case of the flu, and Keith doesn’t want them to worry any more than they already are, so he squares his shoulders and greets them while filling a bowl with food goo for breakfast.

 

Everyone is already eating and Keith gets nothing more than a few nods of acknowledgement when he sits down. While looking at the gelatinous green substance, Keith feels his nausea return full force and swallows against the bile rising in his throat.

 

He spends a few moments breathing deeply trying to ease the sickness, staring at a spot on the table to try and reduce the dizziness he feels. He blinks away the tiredness in his eyes and craves the luxury of being able to sleep off whatever is wrong with him.

 

“-eith. What’s up, man?” Someone’s voice cuts through the fog of his mind and Keith startles, it’s just Hunk left at the table and he looks concerned. Christ, how long had Keith zoned out for?

 

“Nothing,” Keith forces himself to smile, “I’m just tired.”

 

“C’mon then, Allura will be waiting.” Hunk says, he doesn’t look convinced but Keith is thankful he dropped it because lying is exhausting.

 

After Shiro had gone missing, Allura took over paladin training completely, leaving a reluctant Keith I control of the team elsewhere. To be honest, Keith isn’t sure how Shiro coped, there’s just so much expected of him now, which means he can’t afford to be sick. He can’t afford time away in case there’s an emergency. Keith doesn’t get that luxury, not anymore.

 

Which is why, despite not eating anything that morning he dumps his bowl in the sink and follows Hunk out of the door and down towards the training deck.

 

Lance and Pidge are sat on the floor just by the door, while Allura messes with something on a control pad a few feet away. Keith ungracefully flops down in the middle of the two and rests his head against the wall, his headache has reached an all new level of pain and his vision is blurring slightly now. Great. Hopefully they won’t have to fight because Keith definitely doesn’t want to get his ass kicked. That’s one way to lose the respect of your team.

 

“We’ll be sparing in pairs today – no bayards, just hand-to-hand.” Allura tells them after she finishes messing with the control pad. “Hunk is with Keith, and Lance with Pidge. After a few rounds, you will swap partners.”

 

Keith groans internally, he just wants to go back to bed and sleep this whole thing off.

 

His legs feel shaky as he stands up using the wall and makes his way over towards their designated area, he’s almost certain he’s wobbling slightly as he walks but it’s hard to think of anything past the thick fog that’s taken residence in his brain, slowing his thoughts, and making it even harder to think of an answer when Hunk asks if he’s okay, again.

 

“I’m fine.” Keith says through gritted teeth as he fights off another wave of nausea.

 

Hunk readies his fighting pose, its sloppy and if Keith were thinking coherently, he would know exactly how to defeat Hunk, as it is, he decides to just go with it and see what happens.

 

“You don’t look very fine.” Hunk says at the exact same time as Keith lunges forward with a punch to the gut.

 

From then on, it becomes a game. One dodges, the other aims. One hits, the other blocks. Keith thinks ‘ _I might just make it out of this okay’_ when Hunk punches upwards, hitting the side of Keith’s helmet and slamming his head towards one side.

 

There’s a split second where Keith tries to regain his balance against the sudden onset of vertigo, but the nausea returns full force and suddenly he’s bent over, clutching his stomach, and retching onto the floor. He’s not eaten since the previous night so nothing much comes up, but his throat burns and when the gaging subsides, his legs wobble before he’s collapsing sideways into a pair of arms.

 

There’s someone rubbing his back and he’s vaguely aware of people talking around him but his head hurts too much to even open his eyes and all Keith wants is to go to sleep.

 

“I didn’t even hit him hard, I swear!” Someone says and Keith frowns, he knows that voice. He fights through the fog to respond.

 

“H’nk.” Keith croaks out. “’m fine, just a lil sick.”

 

“ _Just a little_ , Quicknak number four, you’ve got a fever of a hundred and two of your human degrees.” Keith cracks open one eye at the sound of Coran’s voice, the paladins are gathered in a semi-circle around him, while Coran stands by his feet waving some kind of technology that Keith is too tired to even try to understand.

 

“Keith, why didn’t you tell anyone you were sick?” Lance asks in an oddly serious tone for the fun-loving current red paladin.

 

“Didn’t wanna worry you.” Keith rasps, someone helps him sit up and a pouch of water is being stuffed into his hand. He takes a sip greedily and the cool liquid helps sooth his throat.

 

“What’s more worrying is you throwing up during training and then passing out.” Pidge has her arms crossed over her chest, a scowl directed at him.

 

“S’rry.” Keith slurs, it’s getting harder and harder to keep his eyes open and Hunk seems to notice this.

 

“Come on, let’s get him to bed. I’m officially cancelling training for this morning in favour of making Keith some soup to drink when he feels better.” Hunk stands up with a groan. “Lance, help me grab him.”

 

They each hook one of his arms over their shoulders and half drag him back to his room, the trip passes in a hazy blur to Keith who has to actively fight to stop himself falling asleep along the way.

 

After a moment, or ten, Keith isn’t quite sure how much time passes, they make it back to his room and he’s being lowered down to sit on his bed. Lance strips the paladin armour off him, leaving him in the black under suit, and throws some pyjama’s his way.

 

“Don’t make me dress you, dude.” Lance says with a soft look in his face that gives Keith the impression that if he asked, Lance would in fact dress him and wouldn’t even mock him. Much.

 

Keith manages to find the strength to peel away the suit from his surprisingly sweaty skin and tugs on the clothes just in time for Hunk to reappear with a fresh blanket.

 

“Just in case you got cold.” He says as he places it down by the bottom of the bed. Keith pulls his covers up around his neck and burrows in the warmth, it’s harder than ever to keep himself awake and they must see this as Hunk says, “We’ll wake you up if anything important happens.”

 

Then, the door to his room is sliding shut and Keith is left alone. In a few seconds, he’s fast asleep.

 

He wakes up around five hours later to a hot bowl of soup and a glass of water, it smells and tastes delicious so Keith assumes Hunk made it. There’s a sweet taste that Keith hasn’t tried before, mixed with a slightly bitter taste of some herbs, Keith recognises them as ones bought recently from a trade market.

 

The soup tastes delicious and, in that moment, Keith has never been more thankful to have Hunk.

 

(But, if he throws it up again twenty minutes later, Hunk doesn’t really need to know.)

**Author's Note:**

> leve kudos and/or a comment if you enjoyed <3
> 
> also consider donating to my ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/A14216Z6


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